The present invention relates to the field of motor vehicle navigation systems, and in particular to a technique for selecting a destination from a map image displayed on a display device to compute a route to a selected destination.
Known navigation systems offer the user the option of displaying a road map on a screen and moving it in all four directions of the compass (i.e., N, S, E, and W), as well as all four intercardinal points (i.e., NW, NE, SE and SW). This function is often referred to as scrolling or as a scroll function. The user can select a portion of the map displayed on the screen and then, by switching from the scroll function to the zoom function, the selected portion of the map is displayed on a larger scale in place of the map previously displayed. However, searching for a destination on the map and preparation of a route requires frequent switching between the scroll function and the zoom function of the navigation system, which is cumbersome and time-consuming for the user.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved technique for selecting a destination from a display in a motor vehicle navigation system.